Factors affecting prices of goods sold online in Kampala post COVID-19: a case study of Wandegeya market

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the factors affecting prices of goods sold online in Kampala post COVID-19. In other words, it aimed to find out whether cost of delivery of goods and services, Type of online products and services, number of online purchases made per month, social media platforms used, Number of followers online had a significant relationship with the effect on prices of goods sold online in Kampala post the pandemic. The study used primary data and was collected using a Google form on sample of 96 respondents from various social media handles such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. The analysis was done using frequency distribution, Chi-square and Ordinal Logistic Regression. In the results, slightly about half of the respondents opened up their online businesses post Covid-19 pandemic (58.3%) of the total respondents sampled and also above a half of respondents charged customers on delivery (68.8%). In the bi-variate analysis, it was found out that the significant factors that influenced the overall effect of prices on goods sold online in Kampala post the pandemic were, the time period the business was opened, the platform used for marketing and the cost of delivery post the pandemic, whose p-values were less than 0.05.(P<0.05). Businesses whose cost of delivery reduced after the pandemic had higher probabilities of reporting an overall positive effect on their businesses in that period as opposed to an overall negative effect, than businesses whose delivery costs either increased or remained constant post the pandemic. The findings indicated that business owners in under-rated sectors for example Furniture, Home and Kitchen appliances and Health products to engage more in online businesses in Kampala, due to flexibility of the internet.